Concealed Pistols

• Remove carrying of a firearm from the prohibition on carrying a dangerous weapon, whether concealed or not, on a person or in a vehicle.

• Apply the prohibition on carrying a concealed pistol only to a person who is prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a firearm.

• Repeal a provision allowing armed security guards to carry a pistol only when on duty and remove the maximum term of imprisonment for a violation from inclusion in the sentencing guidelines.

• Repeal a provision providing for exceptions to the current prohibition on carrying a concealed pistol without a license.

• Reduce the penalty for certain infractions relating to carrying a pistol without proper identification or disclosure and eliminate provisions allowing for seizure of the pistol or personal Taser for a violation.

• Specify that the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act cannot be construed to prohibit an individual from transporting a pistol or carrying a loaded pistol, whether concealed or not.

• Tie-bar House Bills 4417-4419 to House Bill 4416, meaning that none of those bills could become law unless House Bill 4416 was also enacted.

• Take effect 90 days after enactment.

Source: House Fiscal Agency

The list of places where a licensed concealed pistol can’t be taken in Michigan includes schools, courtrooms, arenas, child care centers, taverns where alcohol is the main business, churches, entertainment facilities with seating of 2,500 or more, hospitals, college dormitories or classrooms, and casinos.

Not on the list of prohibited places to carry a concealed pistol is the House and Senate chambers at the state Capitol in Lansing.

“I know of a lot of people that carry guns in the chambers,” said state Sen. Mike Kowall, a White Lake Township Republican. “People wander in and out of the building carrying guns. Once in a while, I will carry in the chamber.”

If the legislation eventually becomes law, concealed pistol licenses wouldn’t be required of Kowall and his political colleagues – or anyone else visiting the Capitol Building.

Kowall doesn’t know how many lawmakers have concealed pistol licenses, but numbers from the Michigan State Police and the FBI indicate the number of people in the state with concealed pistol licenses are up more than 40 percent in the last decade.

The legislation has passed the state House and is pending in the Senate Government Operations Committee, of which Kowall is a member.

Getting rid of concealed pistol licenses and allowing owners to carry their guns with them is also called Constitutional Carry. Michigan would join 12 other states that allow concealed weapons without a permit.

State Rep. Jim Runestad, a cosponsor of the legislation, said pistol purchasers would still have to go through an FBI background check, even though they wouldn’t be required to have a concealed pistol license.

Runestad, also a White Lake Republican, said people barred by state or federal law from owning firearms, such as convicted felons, still wouldn’t be able to carry a concealed pistol, should the legislation pass.

Some advocates for Constitutional Carry laws, also known as permitless carry, would like to allow concealed weapons to be carried anywhere, pointing to mass shootings around the country in areas where concealed weapons aren’t allowed, like schools and movie theaters.

“There’s a big push out of the Senate to repeal nonsensical kill zones,” Runestad said. “Gun deaths are going up in gun-free zones.”

It’s unclear when the Senate will take up the legislation, and unclear whether the governor would sign it into law if it passes.

Arlan Meekhof, an Ottawa County Republican, is the Senate Majority Leader and chairman of the Government Operations Committee. He’ll decide if the legislation will be taken up.

“Arlan is looking it over right now,” Kowall said. “His analysts and attorneys are going through it. If he takes it up, we want to make sure it’s something the governor will sign.”

Supporting the legislation to do away with concealed pistol licenses are gun advocacy groups like Michigan Open Carry, Michigan Gun Owners, Michigan Association for Gun Rights, Freedom Firearms, Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, and the National Rifle Association.

But law enforcement groups in Michigan oppose the proposed changes. Among them are the Michigan State Police, Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, Michigan Sheriffs’ Association, and Fraternal Order of Police.

Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham said the potential passage of the legislation – also called “permitless carry” or “Constitutional Carry” – has law enforcers on edge.

“I would say it’s troubling. Troubling for law enforcement,” said Wickersham, a 31-year police veteran. “I would never have thought that (legislation) would be on the horizon.”

“Right now, if this bill was to pass and anyone was allowed to carry a gun when they want, law enforcement (will be at a disadvantage). Every encounter, every citizen interaction, we’re going to have to believe the citizen is armed,” he said.

The Macomb sheriff pointed out officers always train for situations where a gun may suddenly be brandished or fired. Wickersham believes if more people – even law-abiding ones – begin packing heat and fully or partially conceal a pistol from view without training and knowledge of gun laws including how to properly handle and secure a firearm the results could turn tragic.

Currently, it’s illegal in Michigan to keep a gun in the passenger compartment of a vehicle. Without proper training, more gun owners may be inclined to store a loaded gun in a vehicle’s glove box, Wickersham said. Traffic stops would become increasingly tense if a driver opens the glove box to retrieve the vehicle’s registration and proof of insurance without first revealing there’s a gun inside but it suddenly becomes visible, falls from the storage compartment or is grabbed by the driver with no violent intent while merely trying to reach the vehicle documents.

The sheriff noted that with guns often stolen already during thefts from parked vehicles, “we could have more illegal guns in the streets in the hands of the wrong people.”

Opponents of “permitless carry” reject the claims that owners of registered guns are safe owners and therefore don’t need safety training, and some are negligent. According to the Associated Press, more than 150 children under age 12 either killed themselves or were mistakenly shot and killed between 2014 and 2016 from unsecured guns. On June 20, a 3-year-old Clinton Township boy fatally shot himself after he picked up a gun on the ground at the Newport Arms Apartments.

Other groups opposed argue that more people with concealed weapons inevitably means more gun violence.

The nonprofit website thetrace.org tracks gun related deaths. Culled from federal statistics, it says there are more than 30,000 incidents of gun violence nationally each year.

Concealed Pistol Licenses

The number of people in Michigan who have licenses to carry concealed pistols continues to increase.

The counties with the most concealed pistol licenses are the most populated: Wayne with 108,286, Oakland with 75,874, and Macomb with 58,258.

The FBI keeps count of background checks it conducts for pistol purchases for each state.

In Michigan, the number of background checks is up more than 40 percent from 353,540 in 2002.

Polarized Debate

Whether to require concealed pistol licenses is a matter of differing opinions, even among those who have them.

“A CPL is proof that you successfully completed a course to learn the laws that you are required to abide by as a responsible concealed pistol carrier,” said Regina Trevino, from Pontiac. “I was amazed at how many things I did not know I would’ve done illegally had I not taken that class.

“It is not a class that teaches to shoot,” she said. “It does go over the basics of responsible gun ownership and safe gun handling, and you do shoot a gun to qualify, but the course is so much more than that. I personally believe that there should be a license required to carry concealed, but this is MY opinion.”

Jim McKay from Lake Orion had a CPL but didn’t renew it when he retired. “Many states are allowed to carry concealed with no license,” he said. “Michigan should join that group.”

Open Carry

In addition to requiring concealed pistol licenses, Michigan is also one of 25 states that allows firearms to be openly carried without restriction, and some concealed pistol license holders support that.

“I have open-carried many times. I believe that any reasonable gun owner has the right to carry that way,” said Lisa Lipka, a CPL holder, National Rifle Association instructor and state leader for The Well Armed Woman (TWAW). “But I do think that it is abused by the eccentric owners that are trying to display it as a protest or to get attention.”

Rene Hawarny of Clarkston acquired a concealed pistol license because she felt the world was becoming less lawful and more violent. As a woman, she likes knowing she can carry on her daily business without fear.

“I’m grateful that Michigan has a law allowing open carry,” Hawarny said. “I’ve not done it myself but I find it reassuring when I see someone open carry. It tells me that they are responsible and ready if a situation arises. I don’t open carry because I don’t want to invite someone to challenge me.”

But Jaclyn Weisgerber of Harrison Township said she won’t openly carry a firearm. She acquired a concealed pistol license for personal protection.

“Even as a responsible gun owner you immediately become a target for unwanted attention or even potentially put in a dangerous situation that could be avoided by concealing,” Weisgerber said.